Afghan-Montrealers scramble to help loved ones back home after 2 earthquakes

Mohammad Tawfiq Fushanji woke up to a text message from his brother earlier this week that was meant to reassure him. Instead, it made him panic and wonder what had just happened.

"Don't worry, we are safe," read the message from Fushanji's brother. 

Two 6.3-magnitude earthquakes rocked the Herat province in western Afghanistan over a four-day period, flattening whole villages and killing at least 2,000 people, according to local authorities.

Fushanji, a PhD student in business administration at Concordia University, heard about the disaster just before beginning his semester's reading week.

He said it's "the worst news I have heard in my life." 

"We've had one week off, but I couldn't even study one word," he said. "I need to study hard, but your mind needs to be comfortable. And I can't."

Although his three brothers are safe, he says some of his loved ones are in a coma. 

The university student is hoping the Canadian government will provide humanitarian aid to the country, which returned under Taliban rule a little more than two years ago. 

"It's not some kind of political issue," he said when asked if he thought Ottawa would be reticent to offer aid to that regime.

"The Canadian government should help humans because human lives matter."

CBC News reached out to Global Affairs Canada and have yet to hear back.

On Sunday, which was days before the second earthquake, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said in a social media post that "Canada stands ready to support the Afghan people."

Afghan-Montrealers banding together

Fushanji is working with the Afghan Women's Centre of Montreal to raise funds.

The group's executive director says its members are sending money to relatives on the ground so they can buy items such as food, medicine and blankets. 

The money raised will be wired to a bank in the Herat province

"We cannot, you know, give them by the hand of the Taliban. We make sure to have this directly to their family who know the real reality and the victims," said Victoria Jahesh, the centre's director. 

"Winter is approaching, like the cold season. During the night, it's very difficult to live in that situation and not have a place to live."

The first earthquake hit Afghanistan on the same weekend as Hamas's surprise attack on Israel.  Jahesh says she doesn't want Canadian officials to ignore the devastation in her home country.

The latest earthquake injured at least 80 people, according to Afghan officials.

Based on what his relatives have told him, Fushanji believes the death toll from the earthquakes is much higher than what's been reported so far. 

"I wish I was there," he said. "It's better be there than here where you can't do anything for them."